This invention relates to bearing mounts in general and more particularly to a mount for calotte bearings.
In a manner similar to other bearings, calotte bearings are used for the suspension of shafts, in particular for suspending the shafts of motors and transmissions. In contrast to other bearings such as cylindrical bearings, which are rigidly installed in bearing support elements, such as housing bores, by pressing, gluing or crimping, calotte bearings are movable within the mount and and thus can adapt themselves to the position of the shaft. To this end, the housing for the seating of the calotte is made spherical or conical, so that bearing then lies with one ball half in the housing depression. By means of a spring element, a so-called clamping stay, the calotte bearing is held in its position. The clamping stay may be secured to the housing by riveting or crimping, or it may be fastened by screws or with a lock ring.
The clamping stay, which rests on the side of the calotte bearing away from the housing, spring-supported and force-locking, has the function, in addition to the axial fixation of the bearing, of preventing co-rotation of the bearing when the shaft is driven because of its force-locking contact with the bearing. At the same time, however, the ability of the bearing to rotate in aligned adjustment to the axis must be preserved. The force for the parallel adjustment of the bearing bore to the shaft must not exceed a certain value, because harmful edge forces between shaft and bearing otherwise would occur. Adjustability and hence the operation of calotte bearings therefore depends very essentially on the force exerted on the calotte by the clamping stay, which axially secures the bearing which is fitted loosely in the seating bore of equipment such as motors and pumps and prevents co-rotation and, also, in the case of electric motors reduces noise. In the practice, the adjustment of the magnitude of this force is possibly only by maintaining narrow tolerances on the spring element, on the bearing contour, and on the seating bore. Moreover, the bearing adjustment force or bearing adjustment couple must be checked regularly after installation. In addition, in the known calotte bearing mounts, for a low bearing adjustment couple, a surface of low peak-to-valley height, i.e., a smooth surface, is required at the calotte and at the seating bore. The above stated dual function of the clamping stays thus requires an exact matching and adjustment of the spring tension for which purpose a high precision clamping stay and exact housing and bearing dimensions and surfaces of little roughness are required.